france telecom

Orange, the big French carrier with 240 million customers formerly known as France Telecom, is today unveiling its latest bid to get closer to little startups, and appear a little cooler in the process. Or, as some might think of it, Orange wants to be the new black. It has unveiled a new fund called Digital Ventures, with the aim of finding, strategically funding and then working with… Read More

Facebook today announced that AT&T and France Telecom/Orange are the first two carriers to be part of its Facebook Home partnership program to develop devices with the social network’s new integrated user experience, which will kick off with the a 4G phone, the HTC First. AT&T will be offering it as an exclusive in the U.S. at a price of $99.99 with preorders starting today. Read More

Perhaps aware of the tsunami of news that will hit during Mobile World Congress, we are seeing an increasing amount of news releases coming out before the actual event. France Telecom/Orange has already told us about one device — an Android smartphone with Fujitsu aimed at the senior market — and now it is following that up with three more, own-branded, Android handsets aimed… Read More

It was exactly a year ago that news began to surface of Fujitsu’s intention to come to Europe with its Android-based smartphones. Now the Japanese company is finally coming good on those reports: on Tuesday, Fujitsu is launching its first device in Europe, marking its first “extensive foray into the smartphone market outside Japan.” Read More

A big step forward for China’s search giant Baidu as it looks to raise its international profile and credibility in mobile: the company has inked an exclusive deal with mobile carrier France Telecom/Orange to co-brand and pre-load its new Baidu mobile browser on Android smartphones sold in Africa and the Middle East, covering 19 countries where Orange operates in the region. Read More

Two weeks ago, France Telecom-owned carrier Orange announced Party Call, an app Orange said it created in “partnership” with Facebook for users to make mobile calls via the social network. Now a small startup, Telesocial, says the idea was theirs first. Read More

Earlier today I posted a story about how France Telecom-owned Orange today announced a “partnership” with Facebook for group-calling service Party Call. The plan is for it to go live in France first next summer. I’ve now talked to Xaviet Perret, VP in charge of strategic partnerships at Orange, and he tells me a few more interesting details about the service. Read More

Facebook Phone it may not be, but today we have one more example of how users will be able to use Facebook on their phones — and in place of traditional phone services. Today, multinational French carrier Orange announced that it would offer “Party Call,” a “social calling” service on the social network. Available on both mobile and desktop versions of the… Read More

Another step in Facebook’s plans to make more money out of its mobile business: the company is now accepting mobile payments in France, covering services like virtual gifts and game credits for its HTML5-based content, which can now be billed directly to a user’s mobile bill rather than via premium SMS or credit cards. France comes on the heels of an the initial rollout of the… Read More

Latest Crunch Report

A significant announcement today that could have a big impact on Facebook and its mobile strategy: the mobile carrier Orange, part of France Telecom, announced that it is rolling out a new service that will let those using even the most low-end mobile phones to access the social network in Africa, where Orange has operations in 20 countries, covering 70 million subscribers.
The move is… Read More

Confirming rumors earlier reported by Bloomberg, mobile carrier France Télécom-Orange and advertising juggernaut Publicis Groupe have teamed up to launch a venture capital fund.
The companies have committed to jointly put in 150 million euros (presumably split 50/50), and are seeking outside investors to double the size of the fund, which will focus on backing budding entrepreneurs… Read More

Confirming rumors earlier reported by Bloomberg, mobile carrier France Télécom-Orange and advertising juggernaut Publicis Groupe have teamed up to launch a venture capital fund.
The companies have committed to jointly put in 150 million euros (presumably split 50/50), and are seeking outside investors to double the size of the fund, which will focus on backing budding entrepreneurs… Read More

France Telecom / Orange is partnering with OpenX to launch Orange Ad Market, a brand new online advertising marketplace tailored to the European digital industry.
Orange Ad Market will be operated by Orange and powered by OpenX in exchange for a share on every transaction that is made through the platform. The marketplace will allow all classes of buyers to compete for targeted impressions… Read More

France Telecom / Orange is partnering with OpenX to launch Orange Ad Market, a brand new online advertising marketplace tailored to the European digital industry.
Orange Ad Market will be operated by Orange and powered by OpenX in exchange for a share on every transaction that is made through the platform. The marketplace will allow all classes of buyers to compete for targeted impressions… Read More

Apple is doing a fine job keeping shush about the tablet computer it has been working on for several years and which is due to be announced later this month in California.
But just in case anyone was still in doubt about its imminent launch, France Télécom / Orange executive Stéphane Richard this morning confirmed on air that the device is to debut in the ‘next couple of… Read More

Read&Go, an e-paper from France Telecom
One of Europe’s biggest telecommunications companies, Deutsche Telekom, is developing a portable e-reader, apparently a competitor for Amazon’s Kindle. There are no pictures of the new device available at this point.
The German powerhouse plans a test run with a few dozen prototypes in Berlin this fall. The project is code-named… Read More